While adhering to this new review practice, I've decided that it’s high time I get back to talking about the second season
of the first Netflix original series I've ever seen:
Voltron: Legendary Defender (Season
2)
Basic Premise
I must admit
that Netflix isn’t that huge of a provider of interesting animated TV shows,
either original or acquired, to look into for potential reviews, at least to
me. At the very least, there is one
original animated series from the popular streaming site for me to frequently
check out, and that is Voltron: Legendary
Defender. Thanks to one of my
friends inspiring me to check it out, I found a very good way to expand my
entertainment horizons and offer a fresh, first-time perspective of a show I’m
simply getting to know, and through reviewing the first season a while back, I
say it’s pretty great.
It’s an epic
galactic apace battle saga at its core with a distinct cast of characters to follow
all throughout with a story that gets bigger with every new challenge they have
to face. The premise itself is quite
imaginative in which the fate of the universe rests in the hands of five small
robot lions that form one large robot who defends the innocent from an evil
empire. The catch is that the pilots of the lions, called Paladins, are
mostly inexperienced when it comes to piloting and fighting and need the
constant guidance of the two survivors of a planet wiped out by the Galra
Empire which adds to the intensity of the mission.
For the most part, each episode really
delivers on an exciting scale you’d expect epic action series to. It is held back from a lack of character
development and the villains all coming off as the same dark and serious
character, but every new season offers huge possibilities to expand upon areas
previous ones didn’t, and since the first season impressed me significantly,
I’m open to see what’s done with Season 2.
A huge
reason for excitement on exploring Season 2 is how much the first one left me
wanting more. I mean, our Paladins were forced
to go to the Galra Empire headquarters to save their princess leader, Allura. Although they did rescue her, they got
totally overpowered, mostly through overconfidence on Keith’s part, and in
Shiro’s case getting hurt both mentally and physically. Even when they escaped with the help of a
mysterious traitor to Galra, things remained intense with the season ending
with the whole team separated while going through a corrupted wormhole.
As a result, we’re left with an exciting
point to work off of with much promise for even more excitement. In order to see exactly what great adventures
we’re in for this season, I’ll just sign into my Netflix account, select the
show and rejoin the Paladins for a lion’s share of Voltron action.
Now on with the reviews:
Across
the Universe
The
follow-up to the Season 1 finale features some of our heroes in various
escapades after getting separated in the wormhole jump that helped them escape
Zarkon.
There’s a demonstration of how
distinct they are with how they approach everything that happens to them in the galaxies they end up in. They may have a huge
responsibility of protecting the entire galaxy, but they’re still human beings
with their own day-to-day problems to deal with. In addition, there are imaginative
interpretations of the galaxy from a few places and scenarios.
Specifically, this episode features Pidge stuck
on a trash nebula with no one to help her, Allura and Coran struggling to
escape the compromised wormhole, and Keith saving Shiro, who was wounded by
Zarkon’s witch wife Haggar, from a pack of strange aliens. These subplots have different forms of
appeal.
There’s nothing too special
about what Pidge gets up to since she just stays where she is until someone
finds her. However, it’s still cute and
funny when she befriends a flock of cute fuzzy multi-colored aliens and her
interactions with them are very sweet.
As for humor, it stems from her me-time which includes making
dummies of her friends and poking fun of their quirks which is honestly a good
interpretation of the basic personas and lack of development for some of them. Pidge does still sees the good in her team
when her technical know-how gets an old satellite working which ties into
another subplot.
Allura and Coran’s part
is filled with creativity as they directly deal with the effects of the
wormhole while piloting their castle ship.
Every time they go through it, they hit a black void that keeps them
stuck and affects everyone with the mice becoming different creatures and Coran
getting significantly younger, yet for some unexplained reason Allura is
unaffected which holds the subplot back. What's more, Coran’s personality changes with his degrading age are funny, and
he surprisingly gets good ideas to get out of the mess the younger he gets,
even if they don’t work. Not to mention, it’s
suspenseful when getting younger puts him in danger of disappearing
forever.
Shiro and Keith’s subplot is
even more suspenseful though with Shiro stuck in a weakened state in a
cramped cave with monstrous aliens outside.
Given how brash he was at Zarkon's base, you might think that Keith wouldn’t be
effective as his rescuer, but he impresses through being resourceful and
patient as he fends off the aliens and even gets the trust of Shiro’s
lion. This subplot is also the most
impactful for ending with Shiro asking Keith to lead the Paladins if something
happens to him which gives the story something to look forward to while also starting
a nice character arc for Keith.
Also impactful
is an ending scene of the leaders of the Galra Empire, Zarkon and Haggar, setting out
to find out who helped Voltron escape their grasp. We start getting some new layers to the
villains’ personalities when one of their own, Commander Prorok, shows genuine
fear when the leaders imprison him for letting it happen. This too sets up an arc where they try to
find the traitor, and the fact that their own crew begins to fear them does
start to paint the Galra Empire as more than just a seriously evil threat.
Overall, while this premiere is mainly a
showcase of various character moments and creative scenes, it’s a great way to
ease us back into adventures with the main cast with distinct and appealing
personalities and even a few starts of potentially beneficial arcs. 9/10
The next Voltron: Legendary Defender review will cover the galaxy Lance and Hunk ended up in which is inhabited by seductive mermaids.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews, we'll be covering the second episode of Steven Universe Season 2, "Joy Ride."
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If you would like to check out other Voltron: Legendary Defender reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
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